1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rod-shaped cosmetic container for accommodating rod-shaped cosmetics, such as lipstick, nail polish, foundation, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rod-shaped cosmetic containers that accommodate rod-shaped cosmetics, such as lipstick, foundation, etc., are known and have caps that are fit externally from upper end portions of container bodies in which cosmetics are accommodated to thereby cover to-be-covered portions of the container bodies with the caps.
Rod-shaped cosmetic containers that accommodate cosmetics by external fitting of caps from upper end portions of container bodies as such include an arrangement with an elastic member having a longitudinal biasing force that is mounted in an inner backmost end portion of the cap so as to perform engagement and disengagement of the cap with the container body by using the biasing force of the elastic member.
Such arrangements include, for example, as in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2007-61393, an arrangement for which a cap is composed of an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder that is longitudinally movable with respect to the outer cylinder. A swingable rod formed with a projection portion is provided in a back end portion of the inner cylinder. A guide groove to guide the rod and a latching portion with which the projection portion engages are provided in a back end portion of the outer cylinder. The outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are interposed with an elastic member therebetween so that the inner cylinder moves to the back end portion side of the outer cylinder against a biasing force of the elastic member as a result of pushing in the container body toward the inner back end to bring about an accommodated posture in which the projection portion is engaged with the latching portion. The engagement between the engaging projection and the latching portion is disengaged by again pushing in the container body to the inner back end of the cap, and the cap moves in a direction to disengage from the container body due to the biasing force of the elastic member to bring about a detached posture in which a lower end of the container body is exposed from an opening end of the cap.
However, this arrangement has a problem in that the cap causes the container body to undergo a return movement when the projection portion engages and disengages the latching portion, and a problem that a push-in operation against the elastic member must be performed until the projection portion engages with the latching portion.
Therefore, Japanese Patent No. 4968973 proposes an arrangement with a cap composed of first and second cap portions. The first cap portion is formed with a vertically elongated guide hole. The second cap portion is fit externally to the first cap portion relatively rotatably and is formed with a slanted guide groove. An inner cylinder is fit internally to the first cap portion vertically movably and is formed with a guide protrusion that penetrates through the guide hole and reaches up to the slanted guide groove. Relative rotation between the first cap portion and the second cap portion causes the inner cylinder to move downward so as to project the container body from a lower end of the cap as a result of the guide protrusion being guided by the guide hole and the slanted guide groove. A return spring is provided for returning the second cap portion to a pre-relative rotation position and returning the inner cylinder to an initial position before downward movement, in order to solve the problems of the arrangement in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2007-61393 described above.
With this arrangement in Japanese Patent No. 4968973 described above, a latching portion having a diameter larger than an inner diameter of the second cap portion is formed in an upper end portion of the first cap portion so that the latching portion is fitted into the second cap portion in a force fitting manner so as to latch with a latch receiving portion formed in an upper end portion of the second cap portion when the second cap portion is incorporated by external fitting to the first cap portion. Thus, a downward movement of the first cap portion with respect to the second cap portion is restricted when the second cap portion is incorporated by external fitting to the first cap portion.
Meanwhile, incorporation in this case is achieved by externally fitting the second cap portion to the first cap portion incorporated with the return spring and the inner cylinder by internal fitting. However, the inner cylinder has moved upward to the initial position as a result of being biased by the return spring. Thus, radially inward bending deformation of the upper end portion of the first cap portion is restricted by obstruction of the inner cylinder when performing the force fitting, and consequently, fitting work by force fitting of the latching portion to the second cap portion is not smoothly performed to have a problem of poor workability, and in which problems to be solved by the present invention reside.